How to Recruit Quality Job Applicants in a Competitive Marketplace

Employees are a company’s best asset, which is why it’s important to put time and money into your recruitment process. Many companies consider software that can assist their processes, recruiting and retaining talent is essential for every company. If you fail to match the right candidate to your position, it will cost you dearly. Here’s what you need to do to streamline the hiring process.

Screening candidates is a time-consuming process, which is why many companies hire a recruitment agency to handle the preliminary stages. This is a smart move. Unless you have an HR department, you may not have time to adequately screen job candidates, which means unsuitable candidates might slip through the net.

Writing a Job Ad

If you choose not to hire a recruitment agent, craft your job ad carefully. Include keywords and be very clear about the qualifications you regard as essential or desirable. Most companies advertise their vacancies online these days, so it pays to write a detailed job description to weed out the people who are not qualified.

Networking to find suitable candidates is an alternative to posting an ad online. Make it known on LinkedIn that you are hiring or put some feelers out if you work in a niche industry. You should also write a post on your website or social media feed.

Create an Ideal Candidate Profile

Keep an “ideal candidate” profile close at hand when you go through the pile of resumes. Filter out unsuitable/unqualified people and contact the rest for an interview. It’s a good idea to conduct telephone interviews at stage one. You can tell a lot about a person from the way they handle a telephone call. Have a list of questions, but be willing to go “off-script” if a candidate throws up something interesting during your chat.

When you are ready to conduct face-to-face interviews, bring in at least one other person to sit in on the interview. Subconscious bias is a very real problem in recruitment and it can negatively skew your opinion of a candidate before they even open their mouth. Conversely, you might be thoroughly charmed by an attractive candidate with a smooth manner and overlook their complete lack of experience for the role, whereas your colleague is immune and only too happy to point out that the candidate is a terrible choice.

When you have wheedled the list down to two or three, start networking and see what you can find out about these people. If they have experience in your industry, you should have no problem checking them out to make sure there are no skeletons in the closet.

Make a Hiring Decision

Finally, it’s time to make a hiring decision. Consult with colleagues and have a group chat about who you all think is the right candidate for the job. Ideally, you are all in agreement, but if not, thrash it out until you are.

To attract and retain employees, you need to ensure your company is a place where top talent feels welcome. Be fair and professional during the recruitment process and treat all candidates with the respect they deserve.